Jane Eyre actress Mia Wasikowska, one of Hollywood’s most promising young actresses thanks to her work in Alice in Wonderland and The Kids Are All Right, is also an avid photographer. Shooting with a Rolleiflex camera, Wasikowska’s love for photography was further enhanced by her collaboration with director Gus Van Zant in the upcoming feature Restless.

“(Restless) was one of the first films where I felt really encouraged to take my photography and continue it during the filming,” said Wasikowska. “Because I shot Restless before Jane Eyre and Gus is very encouraging. And I love his photography, he always shows me his books. The way he shoots things, he really is a photographer’s director.”

Click on the media bar and listen to Wasikowska elaborate on working with Gus Van Zant on Restless, which currently has no specific release date.

She is now starring in the title role of Jane Eyre, directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.

Based on the classic novel by Charotte Bronte published in 1847, it tells the story of a young woman who becomes the governess to a French girl who is the ward of Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbender), the moody Master of Thornfield Hall.

Mia Wasikowska spoke of her role of a lifetime at the press day for the movie.

I heard you were already reading the novel when you heard about the film?Jane Eyre - Jamie Bell and Mia Wasikowska

[I asked my agent if] there was a script around or anything happening with it, because I thought it would be an incredible role to play. She e-mailed me back saying, no; there was one a while ago but it had gone away. A few weeks later, she said the movie was happening, sent me the script, and told me that the director wanted to meet me.What was your meeting with Cary like?

I first met Cary in November 2009. We hung out for a day and talked about the character. We found that we shared similar ideas of what she was going through, we spoke about strength and about the kind of agony you feel when you are in love with somebody.What do you admire most about the character?

It’s an honor to portray Jane. What I love about her character is, despite all the hardship that she faces throughout her life, she has this innate sense of self-respect and an incredible ability to do what’s right by herself as an individual. I believe that is key for people, especially women, to remember. It’s important to do what’s fulfilling for you as an individual, even when it can be easier to do what’s comfortable.How did you go about embodying the persona of Jane?Jane Eyre - Mia Wasikowska

I looked at a lot of photographs and images, pictures, and drawings of the time – for example, the way people physically held themselves. I also went through the novel again, trying to find moments that were particularly pivotal to her character which would help me figure out who she was and how she was feeling at particular times.

There were a lot of scenes to play that were emotionally challenging and intense – and with language that we don’t really use any more. The trick is making that feel right so you can comfortably speak the words. A phrase such as ‘I am not speaking to you through mortal flesh,’ is so poetic and visual, but I had to make it sound real as well.Was it hard to get your mouth around the words in this sometimes can be tricky, to figure out the meaning behind the words?

Yeah, that was part of the challenge of taking it on. It’s a language that we don’t really use anymore and it was a thing of reading it enough and knowing the material enough to feel comfortable with it. It’s very descriptive in a way that our language now isn’t.How did you as a female relate to this character? Did you see her as a feminist?Jane Eyre - Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender

Yeah, she’s such an important role for women, and particularly young women. What I loved about her is that she has this inherent sense of self-respect, and there’s nowhere that that should have come from, it’s not like she had a loving upbringing. And everything that she’s achieved or that she has become is because of what she’s made herself.

Also there is something inside of her that believes that she’s worthy of being treated right and being loved and respected and she puts herself first in that respect. And I think that’s really great and an important thing for women, and people to remember. And for that time as well, she’s such a modern person. You’d put her in this society and she’d thrive, which is cool.What was it like working with Michael Fassbender?

Michael constantly surprised me on the set. I would arrive excited to see what he was going to do and how he was going to do it. He has this incredible strength that comes through; his eyes are so piercing! Acting opposite him, I could completely believe he was his character.How has your life changed since getting Alice in Wonderland?Jane Eyre - Mia Wasikowska

I guess at the beginning when I was starting out acting this wasn’t my world, and it’s been a process of making it my world and slowly it has become my world. Going home is a different experience. That’s the biggest way [my life] has changed

Alice in Wonderland was exposure in a way that I hadn’t experienced before, so I have a lot of great opportunities which is good. A lot of it is luck and timing, I’ve had a lot of good luck and been given a lot of great experiences. There are a lot of great scripts that are coming my way, which is really cool.

Jane Eyre: The Clothes Make the Woman for Mia WasikowskaPosted on March 9, 2011 by James Rocchi

Even more terrifying for Mia Wasikowska than ”Jane Eyre“‘s moments of madness and horror? The combination of Victorian costuming and English weather. “There is no way that you can’t think about or be conscious of the costumes of that time. The corset really gives you an understanding of the repression that women were under. I can’t really bend down to pick stuff up, and you can only reach your arm up so high because there’s a flap on your arm. The restriction isn’t just here: It restricts your whole body. It’s excellent in order to really physically embody the character and understand that.” Wasikowska laughed. “As Mia, it sucks.”

Equally un-fun? Portraying emotionally tormented races across the windswept moors of England in the film’s opening moments. Was that as cold, I asked, as it looked? “Very cold,” she said. “I remember specifically, that was Day 2, and I think I got hypothermia. It’s not hard to imagine how horrible that would be, because it’s freezing and they have the rain towers pouring on you. Then the clothes weight an extra 20 pounds. It’s very, very cold. It’s hard enough standing on a moor dressed up in modern-day North Face clothes, let alone in the rain and in 20 pounds of petticoats.”

On a lighter note, I asked Wasikowska about her co-star Michael Fassbender, who plays Mr. Rochester. When doing scenes with Michael Fassbender, which counters his handsomeness more: What a jerk Rochester is, or those ludicrous sideburns? Wasikowska smiled. “The chops are all I have against the man,” she said. “It’s really funny. I had so much fun with Michael. He’s, as you know, an incredible actor. From the first day of rehearsals we got along so well, and we were able to encounter the intensity of the material with a lot of fun, and then take that energy and channel it into the scenes.”

Of course, it wasn’t all fun. Jane is, for lack of a better word, a feminist — even if she’s living in a time hundreds of years before that word even existed. And portraying that was an important objective for Wasikowska. “It’s rare even now for someone to have such individual thought and such strength of character, let alone in that time,” she said. “She’s such an incredible character, and she has such a strong sense of self and who she is and was born with an innate sense of self-respect. There’s something inside of her that believes she’s worthy of having a good life and being treated well and respected and finding her equal. She definitely won’t compromise herself for anybody else, which is so important for young women — and, really, anybody — to remember, because when you fall in love with somebody, you’re at your most vulnerable. It’s very easy for even people who are very strong to feel the need to compromise themselves for their partner or something like that. Jane never does that, and in the end she’s rewarded for it. It takes a lot of bravery to do that.”

Mia Wasikowska tackles the title role of Jane Eyre in Cary Fukunaga's new take on the classic tale, which arrives in theaters today. Cary mentioned that he thought Mia was just right for the role. Mia confessed that she was pretty happy to continue her streak of hot leading men with costar Michael Fassbender, coming off a stint with Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right — there are even more good looks in store for Mia with a new part opposite Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy in The Wettest County in the World!

British author Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre was first published in 1857 and since then a number of reprints of the books have been made. There have been numerous film versions of Jane Eyre, and director Cary Fukunaga’s is the latest version of the novel. The film stars Mia Wasikowska (“Alice in Wonderland”), Michael Fassbender (“Inglourious Basterds”), Judi Dench and Sally Hawkings.

In this interview Mia and Cary talk about the production of Jane Eyre. Here is a bonus short interview with Mia and Cary from my YouTube channel where they talk about Jane Eyre and why there is a certain appeal to the story even today.

This film is about love, home and companionship as Cary put it. Those were broadly similar themes that Cary explored in his previous film Sin Nombre.

Mia Wasikowska has been in two critically acclaimed, award-winning films in the last year, and all at the ripe old age of 21-years-old.

She first caught Hollywood’s eye with a performance in HBO’s hit series, “In Treatment,” and has gone on to star in last year’s “Alice In Wonderland” and the Oscar-nominated “The Kids Are All Right.”

The Australian actress landed the titular role in a new film adaptation of “Jane Eyre,” starring Michael Fassbender and Judi Dench.

Wasikowska told Reuters, “It’s a really important character for women particularly, because she has an innate sense of self respect, which a lot of people don’t have…she is born with something inside of her that says ‘I am worth having a good life. I am worth being respected…And all those things speak to people, no matter what time it is.”

When asked if she intends do another big blockbuster such as ‘Alice’, Wasikowska replied, “I don’t think so. It really depends on what it is. But “Alice” was exposure on such a level that I have never experienced before...I want to keep doing roles that are interesting, and I think the blockbuster things don’t provide that at the moment, or it’s more rare to find.”

The rising star is slated to appear next in "Stoker," a vampire tale co-starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth.

AUSSIE actress Mia Wasikowska has set Hollywood tongues wagging with her take on Jane Eyre.

Canberra-born Wasikowska, who nabbed the title role in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and also starred in last year's critical smash The Kids are All Right, plays the role of Jane Eyre, an oppressed young woman who falls in love with the dashing but flawed Mr Rochester (played by Michael Fassbender of Inglourious Basterds fame).

The attractive young actress reportedly wore little or no make-up in the movie to more accurately portray Charlotte Bronte's character, who is described in the 1847 novel as being "poor, obscure, plain and little". She also shivered her way through the shooting, at one stage even getting hypothermia from filming on the Derbyshire moors.

But despite the trials, the 21-year-old has already garnered plenty of praise for her part, with Elle magazine saying, "She owns this part - it's her Jane" and filmcritic.com saying, "She gives another wonderful . . . performance as Jane".

The film, which opens in the US this week and in Australia later this year, is reportedly much darker than any of the previous 15 cinema versions.

Director Cary Fukunaga said he was fascinated by the novel's gothic undertones.

"I spent a lot of time re-reading the book and trying to feel out what Charlotte Bronte was feeling. . ." Fukunaga said. "That sort of spookiness that plagues the entire story. . . it's very rare that you see those sorts of darker sides. They treat it like it's just a period romance, and I think it's much more than that."

Jane Eyre stars Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender have said that they bonded instantly while filming, despite the difficult relationship of their characters.

Wasikowska plays the titular role in Cary Fukunaga's adaptation of the classic Gothic novel, while Fassbender plays her love interest Edward Rochester, but both actors insisted that the often brutal affair their characters have only improved their real-life friendship.

"We got on really well from the beginning so it was kind of easy to go from there," Wasikowska explained to MTV News. "The most important thing when you have a relationship that has to be that intense in a film, it's 90% being able to get along well and have fun, and I really think we did."

"We were able to channel that energy into the intensity of the scenes," the Alice In Wonderland actress added.

Fassbender himself praised the young actress for her professional work ethic, saying: "She's so talented. She just sort of gets down into the work. She's so disciplined, practical, straight-forward and easy to work with that you just start riffing and it's like playing music. You either sing well together or you don't."

Jane Eyre was released in US cinemas on Friday, and will be released in the UK on September 9.

You probably recognize Mia Wasikowska from her adventures in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland." Perhaps you first spotted the ethereal doe-eyed young actress in the WWII film "Defiance." Maybe you didn't see "The Kids Are All Right," but heard she was pretty good in it.

Well, after "Jane Eyre" opens, you should learn to pronounce the last name of this 21-year-old Aussie. Repeat after us: "Vash-i-kov-ska."

According to Mia, she'd read Charlotte Bronte's classic tale and actively sought out the plum role in Cary Fukunaga's gothic remake. Mia, as the "poor, obscure, plain and little" Jane, steals scenes from costars Judi Dench, Jamie Bell and Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester. No small feats.

The emerging star sat down with NextMovie to tell us all about her airtime in "Eyre."

“Jane Eyre” star Mia Wasikowska is very excited about being in Chicago for the first time and has something somewhat surprising she’d want to do if she had time.

“I would totally do a drive-by [of] Kevin’s house from ‘Home Alone.’ That was my favorite movie when I was a kid,” she says during a chat at the Peninsula Hotel, also noting that she’d like to see the city’s architecture and the Art Institute.

It’s great to see such lightness from the 21-year-old Australian actress, whose recent turns in “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Kids Are All Right” and, as the star of yet another big-screen version of Charlotte Bronte’s 1847 novel “Jane Eyre,” are emotionally intense and quite far from the slapstick comedy of “Home Alone.”

If you’ve never before read or seen a version of “Jane Eyre” (which opens March 18), here’s the plot in a nutshell: Jane (Wasikowska) is ultra-plain and tormented by her family and experience at boarding school, but the strength of her character ultimately earns the affections of Rochester (Michael Fassbender), who harbors the sort of dark secret not often found in hyper-British costume dramas.

Wasikowska says serious roles tend to be more satisfying, and right now she seems to have her choice of practically any role and filmmaker she wants: She’ll soon star in movies directed by Gus Van Sant (“Restless”), John Hillcoat (“The Wettest County in the World”) and Park Chan-wook (“Stoker”). She recently turned down an offer from David Fincher to audition for Stieg Larsson's “Millennium” trilogy because of the time commitment it required.

“I really like doing things that are different, and I like doing things that challenge me in different ways,” she says.

Surely many young stars in Hollywood would love the luxury to be that choosy.

These days stories like “Jane Eyre” tend to be modernized or have zombies thrown in. Why isn’t your movie “Jane Eyre Meets Vampires”?[Laughs.] I mean, maybe the next one will be. [Laughs.] I don’t know, I think [director Cary Fukunaga] was conscious of making it fresh and new but not necessarily having to throw in that shock factor thing or [be different] just for the sake of being different.

It could be nice just to have a few zombies living in town so people would never know if they’re about to strike.[Laughs.] Well, you can talk to [Fukunaga] about that. I’m sure it’s not too late. [The movie] comes out in a few days.

So he can just digitally throw some in there?Put one on the poster and get some guys [to see the movie].

In the wake of your interview with Movieline in which you talked about co-star Michael Fassbender getting a horse excited during shooting, how prepared are you to use the phrase “horse erection” a lot more than usual?[Laughs.] I’m not going to say that word again. I’ve learned my lesson.

How offended were you that the horse was more excited by him than by you?[Laughs.] That’s just the effect Michael has. On horses.

When playing such serious characters, are there some days where you get to work and say to yourself, “I’m in a giggly mood; this is going to be hard to get more intense”?Yeah, but I am often in a giggly mood or a high energy, fun mood right before those scenes. And that almost makes that easier to channel that into drama.

How come?Not easy, but … with me and Michael, we [had] a lot of fun because we needed to get our energy from the fun, and once you have the energy you can turn it into anything if you really let yourself become overwhelmed by the material and the words and the other person.

You say you love “Home Alone.” What was your favorite prank that Kevin pulls in the movie?He’s just so clever. Everything. [Laughs.] The little crunchy things under the window. He puts the little bulb balls from the Christmas tree at the booby-trapped window. And then I always thought it was so cool how he puts the cardboard cutouts of people on trains and then moves them in front of the window.

Would you be interested if someone said, “They’re doing a ‘Home Alone 4’ and you’re playing Kevin’s wife”?[Laughs.] Um, sure. Yeah. Why not?

What was your reaction when you found out you were starring in “Alice in Wonderland”?It was something that felt bigger than me. And to be part of it was like, “Wow”—that they trusted me with that material. And I was just so honored to have been picked by Tim [Burton], who I’ve admired for so long. And I just so respect him and his work.

What was it like your first day working with Johnny Depp?It was cool. I was so excited to see what he was going to do, ’cause there were no rehearsals. It was such a mystery to me, and so it was like this huge discovery to be able to see what he was going to do. I was blown away by it. I didn’t recognize him as the Mad Hatter the first time I saw him. [Like,] “Who’s that funny looking guy?” The first time I saw him in full hair, costume and make-up, I didn’t know it was him.

Compared to “Alice in Wonderland,” were your corsets for “Jane Eyre” more or less comfortable?They were so much less comfortable. I didn’t realize how wimpy my corset was on “Alice” until they locked me into this one. And it’s really an incredible repression. You really get a sense of the repression that people were under in that time. Not only does it squish you in [the torso area] but then you can’t really bend over and you can’t really reach up and you can’t really eat and you can’t really breathe. It’s a real pain.

What’s it like to have only a few movies under your belt and already be a corset expert?It’s pretty cool, but I couldn’t complain around Judi [Dench]. ‘Cause she’s worn them her whole career and they don’t faze her at all, whereas I’m complaining away in the corner.

Plus:What she did after last night’s Q&A in Chicago: “On our way back to the hotel we went past the Bean. I thought that was very cool. I was super impressed. I took lots of pictures.”What she does in her downtime: Take pictures, read books, go home to Australia, see friends and familyNext up: John Hillcoat’s “The Wettest County in the World”; Chan-wook Park’s “Stoker”Another director she wants to work with: Jane Campion (“The Piano”)On her iPod right now: “I have a lot of old music. I like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash and the Kinks. And Tom Waits and Cat Stevens.”Better Australian band, Men at Work or Silverchair? [Laughs.] “Um, I don’t really know either of them very well, but I remember my sister used to listen to Silverchair.”How many mushroom-induced hallucinations she’s had recently: [Laughs.] “None since ‘Alice.’”

Mia Wasikowska: An Aussie acting abroadJamie Portman, Postmedia News: Tuesday, March 15, 2011Actor Mia Wasikowska attends the New York premiere of "Jane Eyre" at the Tribeca Grand Hotel Screening Room on March 9 in New York City.

NEW YORK - She turned down one of the most coveted acting jobs in Hollywood: the title role in the English-language version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

But does Mia Wasikowska regret her decision? Not for an instant.

She's losing no sleep over her rejection of one of the year's biggest movies and its two sequels. That's because the 21-year-old Australian is about to open in a role really close to her heart - as Jane Eyre in the latest screen treatment of the Charlotte Bronte classic.

By temperament, she is drawn to smaller movies like this, or the Oscar- nominated The Kids Are All Right, in which she played the daughter of lesbian parents. Indeed, portraying Alice in Tim Burton's mega-budget treatment of Alice in Wonderland seems almost an aberration to her now, despite her rave reviews.

"I feel like Alice In Wonderland was an exposure on a level that I've never experienced before," she calmly tells Postmedia News. "And in a way, with a lot of exposure, you lose a lot of control, as well, and I like to do things that I'm in control of. And often, that means the smaller things."

There is nothing small about a film trilogy based on Stieg Larsson's bestselling thrillers. The role of its neurotic but formidable heroine represented a commitment she didn't want to make.

"It was a long commitment, and I like to do things that are challenging. I also think that, if you're to remain interested in the business and in acting, it's good to challenge yourself and keep doing things that are very different."

Things like Jane Eyre, which begins arriving in Canada on March 18. Two years ago, Wasikowska started reading Charlotte Bronte's 1847 novel about an orphan who survives a childhood of cruelty and harsh treatment to become a governess in a mysterious household presided over by the brooding Edward Rochester, a man haunted by a dreadful secret. By the time she reached Chapter 5, she was on the phone to her agent, asking whether by any chance a film version was in the works.

A few weeks later, Wasikowska received Moira Buffini's screenplay for one of the 19th century's enduring love stories. It seems that a novel that had first been filmed in the early silent era was due for yet another version. Could she read the script and meet director Cary Joji Fukunaga?

"So it sort of went from there," Wasikowska says now. The new Focus production also stars Irish actor Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds) as the enigmatic Rochester, Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) as the young man who offers Jane a love she cannot return, and Judi Dench as Rochester's housekeeper.

Wasikowska says there's something timeless about Jane, despite the fact that she's a product of early Victorian England.

"She's a modern character. You feel that if you put her in our society now, she would thrive. Lots of people connect with the things that she stands for. She puts herself first. She's not going to sacrifice who she is for somebody else in a relationship.

"It's such an important role for women, because Jane is sort of born with this inherent sense of self-respect, yet there's nowhere that it obviously comes from. She didn't have a loving upbringing, but she's born with something inside her that believes she deserves to be treated well, she deserves a good life and she deserves to be loved. I thought that was really important."

Furthermore, the character of Jane represented a new kind of acting challenge.

"The book is like her internal monologue, from start to finish. You're hearing her thoughts and her opinions - and she is very opinionated. The challenge, I think, with a move version is, how do you convey all that, and all that's inside her when you can't have her speaking, full-stop?"

If Wasikowska constantly pushes herself, that's understandable. It stems from her early years in Australia, where she trained for a career in ballet.

Dance requires total discipline and commitment, she emphasizes, and that discipline has never left her.

"It's really an industry, the dance industry," she says - and yes, she thinks Black Swan is an accurate reflection of that world. "I feel like, sometimes, it can make or break you in a way, because, definitely, my experience with it was the process of trying to achieve such physical perfection. In terms of the discipline, my dance background definitely prepared me for acting and was definitely a huge influence on my career as an actor."

And why did she flee that world and turn to acting?

She took a long hard look at ballet - and found it wanting.

She'd been doing "35 hours of dance a week for a very long time." She was also doing a full academic program: When she had finished with school for the day, she was immediately off to dance class. "I was keeping up at school and doing well at school, but it took such a lot of energy, and dance gives very little in return. You work really hard, and a lot of time, there's criticism, and the criticism drives the desire for perfection, in a way. And I felt it was kind of becoming an imperfect environment."

The characters she prefers to play on the screen occupy a different environment.

"What I like about film is the contrast - that film explores characters who are flawed and imperfect. It really looks at the things we do that are human and can be mistaken or wrong."

Wasikowska has two more small projects coming up: Gus Van Sant's coming-of- age drama, Restless, and Albert Nobbs, a drama about a young woman who disguises herself as a man.

"I'm really excited about Restless. Gus Van Sant has been one of my heroes for a long time. My mom showed me his films when I was a teenager and I was so struck by them. They opened up a whole new idea of filmmaking for me . . . and then to be able to actually work with him was one of the highlights of my career. The story is beautiful, and he has such a unique way of working, I felt so incredibly trusted."

Albert Nobbs is a personal project of actress Glenn Close, who co-wrote the script and spent nearly a decade seeking financing for it. Wasikowska, who recently finished filming in Ireland, says it's unlike any script she's ever done, and also a portrait of an era. "Gender repression and sexual repression - it's all there."

Yet, even though her career is taking off, she's still firmly anchored in Australia.

"I've been lucky so far that it's been fine living in Australia and working in America. I've been lucky enough that I've never had to move to L.A. I feel like going home has saved me every time. . . . It grounds me again to go home and to be told to take the rubbish out!"

The Australian actress - who plays the titular character in the new movie adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's classic novel - revealed despite the dark subject material, she loved working with Jamie Bell and Michael Fassbender because they were constantly joking around on set.

She said: "Jamie Bell and Michael Fassbender are just fantastic. To counter the intensity of the material, we had a lot of fun in between set-ups and scenes, and that was vital. You really have to get your energy from somewhere, so if you're able to have fun and then use that energy, and channel that into the mood and feel of the film, that's always really helpful.

"To have two co-stars like Michael and Jamie was fantastic. There were just a lot of funny things that happened."

Mia wasn't the only one on set who was fond of Michael (Lord Rochester) - she revealed his horse also took a liking to him.

She explained to screencrave.com: "Michael had a very huge effect on any horse he got on. On the third day of filming, we were shooting the scene where Jane and Rochester meet, and every time Michael hopped on the horse, it got a huge erection. He'd get off and they'd run the poor thing around the block to get it to go away, and then he'd hop on and it would happen all over again. That was great."

The latest version of the Charlotte Brontë classic, Jane Eyre, will be in theaters this Friday. The romantic, drama-filled novel of Jane Eyre has not waned in popularity since it was first published in 1847.

The tale is set in the 19th Century, but Jane Eyre continues to inspire new generations of devotees with her ability to overcome diversity with her character in tact.

The new telling of this romantic drama is brought to life by director, and Bay Area native, Cary Fukunaga. Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender fill the shoes of Jane Eyre and Edward Rochester. The Jane Eyre promotional tour came through San Francisco and I had a chance to chat with Mia and Cary (Who, by the way, looks like Clark Kent. Seriously, we have good genes in the Bay!). We discussed all things Jane Eyre, including what brought them both to the story, the importance of picture books and the finer points of clothing from the 1900's. More specifically, what happens to your guts when you squeeze into a corset. It isn't pretty.

Diane Davis; What made you want to revisit Jane Eyre?

Mia Wasikowska; I just thought it was such a cool story. I had read it a few months before... well I had started reading the book then I was about to chapter 5 and I contacted my agent and asked her if there was a project or if anything was happening and there wasn't anything at the time but she sent me a script a month later and then I met Cary and it was just really good timing. In terms of the story it is something that its popularity hasn't decreased at all, it keeps connecting with people. The story, in a way, is very modern and so relevant to young girls and young people in general.

Cary Fukunaga; It was a story I knew as a kid, the '44 version that Bob Stevenson directed, that was one of my favorites. Then, after spending 6 years on my last film I really wanted to do something different in terms of scenery, style and location and even time period... also, I just wanted to live in Europe for awhile. Exchange the jungles of South America for the Moors of Northern England.

DD; When creating a period piece how detailed do you attempt to be?

CF; Well, as accurate as possible, especially with language. Accurate to the point where it is still comprehendible by modern audiences. In terms of all the details and textures and things like that, as real as possible. The costumes under Michael O'Connor sourced original materials and textiles and even used original lace and collars and suspenders and down to the details on the boots. everything was highly detailed.

DD; How was it wearing those costumes?

MW; Painful, awful! Like everyone says, corset are hell, and I understand that, but until you are really in there it is a whole other (experience). They are really helpful physically for the character, you really get a sense of the repression and the restriction. You can't really bend down and then your arm can really only go up so high because there is a little flap over it. That was really helpful for understanding what it was like to be a woman in that time.

CF; She was certain that I had asked O'Connor to make it tighter. We, at one point had asked him to loosen it up.

MW; Oh, I would have done anything!

CF; It basically takes your guts and squeezes them in half. Some of the guts go down and some of the guts go up. It's really unhealthy.

MW; It restricts your breathing, you can only take half breaths and it is really weird, and your voice and everything is affected.

CF; (Michael) Fassbender just had to wear pants that went up to here.

MW; And he complained all the time! I said, 'your pants are not tight, try wearing this.'

DD; Tackling a period piece can be a bit hard to get into, did you do any research?

MW; I read the book again and went through underlining parts that I thought were really essential and important. Also, I looked at a lot of images. I like to collect pictures that remind me of her character or of a situation that she might find herself in. Then the rehearsal period was really good and making sure that the language sat well will all of us.

DD; You said you collect pictures, do you make a scrap book for each character?

MW; Yeah, or just a folder sometimes. I'll make a folder of images. I have a folder from 'Alice' and from most of the films I've done.

DD; Is that something you share, did you bring it to Cary?

MW; We looked at a few pictures.

CF; I had my own folder. Sometimes we had the same picture.

DD; Obviously you like to travel with your films. Where do you want to work next?

CF; I have this film based in Africa but I'm not sure I want to spend a year in Africa right now. I kind of want to chill out but Japan would be fun, somewhere in Eastern Europe would be fun, Middle East would be fun.

DD; What about the Bay Area, your hometown of Oakland?

CF; I know, I know, one day.

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CHICAGO – According to IMDB, there are over 20 film and TV versions of the Charlotte Bronte novel, “Jane Eyre.” Director Cary Fukunaga (”Sin Nombre”) and lead actress Mia Wasikowska (”Alice in Wonderland”) take on the latest remake of the literary legend.

There is a nice twist in this one, as it is told in flashback from a point deep in the original novel. The screenplay by Moira Buffini gives director Cary Fukunaga ample room to create a reflective Jane Eyre, led by the performance of the by Mia Waskiowska as title character. The film has terrific performances and an unexpected scope that fleshes out the conflicts of the famous character.The Arrival: Mia Wasikowska in ‘Jane Eyre’The Arrival: Mia Wasikowska in ‘Jane Eyre’Photo credit: Laurie Sparham for Focus Features

HollywoodChicago.com got the opportunity to speak with both Mia Wasikowska and Cary Fununaga when they were in Chicago promoting the film.

StarMia Wasikowska, the Title Character in “Jane Eyre”

Mia Wasikowska (pronounced “vash-i-kov-ska”) had made a big noise in her career so far. The 21-year old actress has had a high profile since she appeared as Sophie in the HBO series “In Treatment” in 2008. After performing opposite Hal Holbrook in the acclaimed 2009 independent film “That Evening Sun,” she landed a huge role as Alice in last year’s “Alice in Wonderland,” which was followed up with a featured role in “The Kids Are All Right.” She follows those performances with Jane Eyre, and spoke about the challenges of playing such a well-known persona.

HollywoodChicago.com: What struck you in the novel about Jane that you wanted to communicate during filming?

Mia Wasikowska: She’s a very original character and has a strong sense of self and who she is, she doesn’t compromise herself for anyone. And there is something inside her that believes she is worthy of having a good life and being treated well. I think that is really admirable.

HollywoodChicago.com: What elements of the 19th century Jane do you want to project to a 21st century audience?

Wasikowska: At the core, she is a very modern character, if you were to take away the costumes and the setting. The story is familiar to an audience now, which is why the novel has lasted a long time, never wavering in its popularity and continuing to be read. It’s a young woman trying to find a connection, love and a family, in a very dislocated, isolated world. That should be enough for identity to a modern audience.

HollywoodChicago.com: Your chemistry with Michael Fassbinder was evident on the screen, what impressions did he make as you got to know him on the set?

Wasikowska: It was great, we had a lot of fun. We were able to counter the intensity of the material with a lot of just playing around. Then we channeled that energy into the intensity of the scene. I have a lot of respect for him, and it’s so easy to act with someone that is so present, like he is.Starcrossed: Michael Fassbinder as Edward Rochester and Mia Wasikowska in ‘Jane Eyre’Starcrossed: Michael Fassbinder as Edward Rochester and Mia Wasikowska in ‘Jane Eyre’Photo credit: Laurie Sparham for Focus Features

HollywoodChicago.com: Do you see a through line between Alice, Joni from “The Kids Are All Right” and Jane?

Wasikowska: Yeah, I’m sure there is definite connections. I see them all as different characters, but in terms of Alice and Jane, who are from a similar time period, they both are modern characters for their time. That is why, I think, they are so beloved and continue to be explored. There is a complexity to them, they have a lot of layers, a lot of different things going on. Like on the film “That Evening Sun,” that was something I hadn’t done before. I like doing things that challenge me or what I haven’t done before.

HollywoodChicago.com: You’ve now played two iconic literary figures. What is alive in Alice and Jane that you think keeps different forms of art constantly interpreting them for new audiences?

Wasikowska: I love personally seeing how different people interpret the same character, and seeing the parts that people choose to include, and what they do with it. That says a lot about our time, and each re-interpretation is like a time capsule. I think that is what the arts are for.

HollywoodChicago.com: Like Alice in Wonderland, what do you think are the six impossible things that has occurred in your life that has brought you to this point? You don’t have to name six…

Wasikowska: My own impossible things? There are a lot of impossible things that have surprised that have happened. Being able to do what I do seems impossible, and was impossible. It was a different world when I was younger, and not anything that I thought could happen. Being able to act as a career is something I love, and it still seems impossible to me.

StarCary Fukunaga, Director of “Jane Eyre”

The director Jane Eyre couldn’t have found a more contrasting project after his first highly praised feature film, “Sin Nombre.” That film focused on the circumstances of Mexicans crossing the border to the United States. The gritty and harsh setting of the immigrant circumstance is miles away from the 1800s life of the British Jane Eyre, but Fukunaga imbues both films with a distinct touch.

HollywoodChicago.com: The screenwriter used a flashback technique by starting at a point further into the novel. How did that approach help you or free you as the director of the narrative?

Cary Fukunaga: What it does, in a very elegant way, is allow you to tackle the third part of that novel, which is often a difficult narrative hump to get over. By peppering it about the course of the film, you can stay faithful to the novel and actually show that part of the story, which is often cut in other versions or amalgamated into other characters. You can remain faithful to it and still tell a compelling story with a structure that starts out with a mystery and hopefully keeps you engaged all the way through.

HollywoodChicago.com: With that structure, there seemed to be more focus on that latter part of the novel, which takes place with St. John Rivers [Jamie Bell] and his sisters. How did that figure in the overall story?

Fukunaga: There is a lot of coincidence in the novel that gets you to the end. But what is really important is how you define Jane. This is her story and she needs to make decisions, and in this case she is given an opportunity, once we establish that relationship with St. John Rivers, to decide if she wants a fate with his sisters, or a fate in India married to him or to return to Edward Rochester. It’s more faithful to the novel and makes her much more interesting, and a lot of coincidences brings her to the end. That choice defines who she is.

HollywoodChicago.com: Jane Eyre, of course, is much different than your previous film, ‘Sin Nombre.’ How did you approach the film differently than your previous tale of immigration?

Fukunaga: The same, really. You have a story, you have an idea of how you’re going to tell it in your head. All the elements of filmmaking are exactly the same. In fact, there are a lot of thematic elements between the character of Sayra in Sin Nombre and the character of Jane, in terms of people who have had a difficult past, and have not had the most caring of upbringing. What they desire in life is companionship, and their place in the world with a new family. That’s what Jane is all about.

Obviously it is a different shoot from being on top of trains in contemporary society versus corsets, crinoline, horses and those kind of things. But in a way those are superficial differences rather than a fundamental difference in filmmaking technique.Feather in his Cap: Cary Fukunaga on the set of ‘Jane Eyre’Feather in his Cap: Cary Fukunaga on the set of ‘Jane Eyre’Photo credit: Laurie Sparham for Focus Features

HollywoodChicago.com: How did you happen to come across Jane Eyre as your project after Sin Nombre?

Fukunaga: The 1944 film by Bob Stevenson and the novel were definitely childhood favorites of mine. I thought about adapting it myself while Sin Nombre was going into production. Later, when I was in the UK doing promotion for Sin Nombre I found out that BBC films had a Jane Eyre project on their theatrical slate. I asked to read it, liked what the script was doing, and asked to meet the producer and the writer. I told them I liked their project, and they told me they liked me.

HollywoodChicago.com: What surprised you about the novel Jane Eyre when you were visiting it in preparation for taking on the ‘bringing to life’ of the classic characters?

Fukunaga: My style of filmmaking right now is that it should feel authentic, as if it’s happening now. Therefore, language comes into play, because the language of Bronte’s time is so specific. Actual words, adjectives and adverbs are so specific then they are now, although we recognize the words, they are very rarely utilized the way that they are in Jane Eyre. To make that sound natural is a challenge for anyone. There was a lot of distilling, to find a balance between the literary version of what Bronte is saying and what would the actual dialogue version be. And that went back and forth, that wasn’t in the first version of the script. It also came out in prep and pre-production, Mia would have sections of the book underlined…

Wasikowska: There was a lot of translating, like you read the scenes and the language of the time is so poetic and elaborate, and we don’t use that language anymore. So a lot of it we would go through and ask, ‘what does this mean?’ What are they talking about? So a lot of it was decoding another language. Once we understood the meaning of it, we could own it a bit more.

HollywoodChicago.com: How did you approach the character of Edward Rochester, since there has been so many interpretations beforehand?

Fukunaga: I hadn’t seen that many versions. I know the version I mentioned before, and I know the book. I felt like what I read in the book, despite how Bronte describes him, that the most important thing for him is spirit. The essence of who the actor is and what they bring to the role.

Rochester is a bit wild, mercurial and dangerous, and has had a incredible emotional tragedy early in this life which has affected the way he lives and operates. There is also something naturally wild about Michael Fassbinder that he brings to the film. As far as naturalistic directing, both Mia and Michael are very truthful actors, meaning they bring their performances from some other version of themselves.

HollywoodChicago.com: Having worked with non-professionals and children before in Sin Nombre, how was it directing Romy Settbon Moore, who was both?

Fukunaga: Romy was plucked straight out of a school, she had no acting experience whatsoever. I saw a tape audition where she did the scene where she’s introduced to Jane for the first time, and she was perfect. It was exactly what I wanted to cast for that role [Adele]. It’s difficult when kids don’t have the craft, so the performance relies on them being comfortable on set. She was nervous at first, but then as she got used to the process, she was fine.

HollywoodChicago.com: How do you deal with the spooky elements of the story, for example, the surprise that Thornfield Manor contains?

Fukunaga: My interpretation of the novel is that it’s a spooky story. It’s the kind of story that people would read by the fireplace and been spooked about. That needs to be there in the story, and it’s difficult managing that and the romance parts. They are very different emotions. It becomes more of a tone than a genre, and that’s how I approached it.

HollywoodChicago.com: Back to Sin Nombre, what elements in your personal life prepared you to write the movie, and what parts of your character related to the characters in the film?

Fukunaga: Besides my gangster past? [laughs] I grew up in Oakland near gang territory, so I remembered that. But really I just go where the wind takes me, I don’t say no to opportunities that interest me. So when I did the short film, and there was an opportunity to make a feature film, I went and did the research. That research resulted in Sin Nombre. That film brought me to the UK, where I heard about Jane Eyre, and ended up doing that film. I really don’t have a strategy, maybe I should. [laughs] Other than doing what sounds interesting, and you also have to know that you’re basically going to give two years of your life to something. Whatever the common link between them, will probably be determined over the course of more films.

Relaxing with a good book (on film)Laid-back Cary Fukunaga, Mia Wasikowska discuss their adaptation of the evergreen 'Jane Eyre'

By Nina Metz, Tribune Newspapers

8:51 a.m. CDT, March 17, 2011

There's probably a sense of deja vu that sets in when actors and directors embark on press tours. They roll into town, spend the day talking to one journalist after another, and then they're off to the next city to do it all over again. One can imagine it gets tiring — boring, even — though some are able to hide it better than others.

"You got the most relaxed interview ever," actress Mia Wasikowska said last week when she and director Cary Joji Fukunaga were in Chicago to talk about the latest cinematic incarnation of "Jane Eyre." Sitting on a couch beside each other, they were subdued and looked ready to call it a day. Fukunaga didn't even bother to remove his coat. "I'm so brain dead," he said at one point, giving the impression that when it comes to marketing his film, he'd much rather be someplace else.

Which is perhaps understandable. "Jane Eyre" — based on the mid-19th century novel by Charlotte Bronte — has been all-consuming for Fukunaga, 33, who has spent much of the past year in the U.K., where it was filmed. This is just his second feature-length film. His debut, which he also wrote, was the 2009 indie "Sin Nombre," about the lives of illegal immigrants trying to cross the U.S. border. Nothing in that movie would suggest a filmmaker with an interest in taking on a gothic period piece.

"I figured if people didn't like the writing in this one, they could blame Bronte," joked Fukunaga. "I loved the (Orson Welles) version of 'Jane Eyre' growing up, and I had even thought about making it myself at one point in time. The BBC had a project already in progress, and there was a director attached previously, but apparently it wasn't working with him. So it just kind of became available right when I became interested."

Around that same period Wasikowska was reading the book for the first time. "I was halfway through it when I got in touch with my agent, and I asked her if there was a 'Jane Eyre' project around, and two months later she e-mailed me the script, and I met with Cary. So it was amazing timing, because the chances of me saying, 'I want to do Jane Eyre,' and that actually happening are slim."

Probably best known for the two films she appeared in last year — "The Kids Are All Right" and "Alice in Wonderland" — Wasikowska steps into the title role opposite Michael Fassbender as her brooding love interest, Mr. Rochester.

At 21, Wasikowska has become an actress in serious demand. When she first met with Fukunaga, she was working on Gus Van Sant's latest film, "Restless." After "Jane Eyre" wrapped, she worked on "Albert Nobbs," a film directed by Rodrigo Garcia, "who cast me in the first thing I ever did in America called 'In Treatment.' We shot in Ireland for the last two months, and I just finished that." Later this month she travels to Georgia to begin work on a film starring Shia LaBeouf based on the novel "The Wettest County in the World," about Prohibition-era bootleggers.

"I live in Australia when I'm not working," she said, "otherwise I live wherever I am."

"Which means she never lives in Australia," said Fukunaga. "I don't live anywhere because I've been in the U.K., and now I started this press tour, so now I'm homeless. So I think it's safe to say neither of us lives anywhere."

It is a full-on transient existence for both. "You gather up a whole range of random storage houses all over strange places," said Wasikowska. "I have things stashed in people's houses." Same for Fukunaga: "I have furniture at my dad's house that I'd like to use one day. I have boxes across the globe. Focus Features (the distributor of both of Fukunaga's films) right now is my storage unit."

Despite their drained (if entirely pleasant) demeanor during our conversation, the energy in the room improved when Wasikowska and Fukunaga spoke about some of the specifics of the filming itself. "I'm constantly surrounded by women on this film," Fukunaga said.

"Even in the development phase, I had a lot of women commenting on my interpretation of it. And there was this scene where originally Jane and Rochester have a moment of hugging and kissing. The girls wanted this bodice-busting moment where he literally picks her up off the ground and puts her on the saddle. And I was like, 'That's terrible, that's cheesy.' I wanted to do something more original where she hugs his leg, which is interesting."

Wasikowska gave him a not-so-convinced look. "You guys all react that way, but it's in the movie!"

Then there was the matter of Fassbender's horse, which would become aroused just as they were ready to film. "The first time it happened we weren't sure if it was Mia or Michael setting it off," said Fukunaga. "But it happened every time Michael got on the horse. You could not miss it. So we had to take the horse and walk it around and cool it off and bring it back. And then it would happen again: Michael would get on the horse and the horse would get really excited."

Or as Wasikowska surmised, "Maybe the horse was just having a really good day."

Soft spoken actress Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are All Right) gives her most inspired performance to date in Jane Eyre, director Cary Fukunaga’s stirring rendering of Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel. Although playing Jane Eyre must have been a rigorous emotional journey for Wasikowska, she tries to leave her characters on the film set.

“I think it’s important to separate yourself from them,” said Wasikowska, who will next be seen in director Gus Van Sant’s picture Restless. “It’s really good being able to go home with your own identity. But you definitely are very close to them. They definitely are always there in the back of your mind.”

Click on the media bar and listen to Wasikowska elaborate on her admiration for Jane Eyre. Co-starring Michael Fassbender and Judi Dench, is now playing in select theaters.

Since the invention of movies, there’s been no shortage of film adaptations of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre: The Gothic tale of a headstrong orphan who grows into a quiet, thoughtful young governess and falls in love with her employer Edmund Rochester, a mad, bad and dangerous-to-know Byronic Hero.

The latest cinematic Jane Eyre is a raw and thrilling interpretation from director Cary Fukunaga and writer Moira Buffini that remains faithful to the novel, but draws considerable energy from Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, The Kids are All Right) as Jane and Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, Centurion) as Rochester. Also on hand are Jamie Bell as St. John, Judi Dench as Mrs. Fairfax, and Sally Hawkins as Mrs. Reed.

A few weeks ago other writers and I sat down in Chicago to talk with Jane Eyre director Cary Fukunaga and his star, Mia Wasikowska.

–Mia, what did you want to communicate about Jane with your performance?

Mia Wasikowska: She has a strong sense of self, of who she is. She doesn’t compromise herself for anyone, and there’s something inside of her that believes she’s worthy of having a good life and being treated well and respected. I think that’s really admirable.You’ve been Alice in Wonderland and Joni in The Kids are All Right, and now Jane Eyre. Are there similarities in these characters that drew you to them?

Wasikowska: There’s a complexity to them–they’ve got a lot of layers and different things going on. That was something like I hadn’t done before and I like doing things that challenge me and are different from what I’ve done before.How do you play Jane for a 21st century audience?

Wasikowska: If you were to take away the costumes and the period setting, at the core is a story that’s very familiar to audiences, which is partially why it’s lasted such a long time and it hasn’t wavered in it’s popularity. At the core of it is a young woman who’s trying to find a connection, love and a family in a very dislocated, isolated world.How was it working with Michael Fassbender as Rochester?

Wasikowska: It was great. We were able to counter the intensity of the material with a lot of fun playing around and goofy activity and then channel that energy into the intensity of the scenes. I have so much respect for him–it’s so easy to act opposite someone who’s as present as he is. There’s such intensity not only to his performance but to who he is as well–that really brings you in.

Cary Fukunaga: I know loyalists want actors that match physical descriptions, but the most important thing is spirit, the essence of what the actor does and what they bring to the role. Rochester is a bit wild, mercurial and dangerous, and had an incredible emotional tragedy early in his life that has affected the way he lives and operates and how he indulges himself. There’s something naturally wild about Michael Fassbender that he brings to the film.Cary, what challenges did you discover when you set out to adapt Jane Eyre?

Fukunaga: My style of film making right now is trying to be realistic or authentic–it should feel like it’s happening, not like we’re watching some sort of arch version of the story. So the novel’s language came into play because it’s so specific, that language of Bronte’s time.

Wasikowska: There was a lot of translating. The language in that time is so poetic and elaborate, so it’s kind of like decoding another language. Then once you understand the meaning of it, you can own it a bit more.Cary, your film opens in the middle of the novel, with Jane fleeing across the windswept moors, then tells most of the story in flashback from St. John’s home. Why did you and writer Moira Buffini approach the material this way?

Fukunaga: I think in a very eloquent way it allows you to tackle the third part of the novel, the St. John section that’s often a very difficult narrative hump to get over. By peppering it across the course of the film you can stay faithful to the novel and still tell a compelling story that starts off with a mystery and hopefully keeps you engaged all the way through.You certainly emphasized the story’s ghostlier tone.

Fukunaga: I interpret the novel as a spookier story. I have friends who read the book and were horrified while reading. The difficult thing is managing that horror and the romance–if you focus too much on the horror it’s exciting in the moment, but you lose the emotional connection with the characters. And likewise, if you spend too much time on the characters then the horror tends to disappear.Where did you shoot the Thornfield Hall sections of the film?

Fukunaga: We needed to be faithful to story, a Jacobean castle that had pre-Victorian interiors. We couldn’t afford to build sets for the film so we had to shoot in real locations, and Haddon Hall [in Derbyshire, England] came up as being the perfect place. I initially was against shooting at Haddon because other versions of Jane Eyre had shot there [the 1996 Zeffirelli version with William Hurt and Charlotte Gainsbourg and the 2006 BBC version], but it’s so far and away better than other houses, you’d be cutting off your nose to spite your face not to shoot there.Cary, Jane Eyre is a departure from your first film Sin Nombre, about gang members and immigrants coming north from Mexico. Did you deliberately try to go in a different direction?

Fukunaga: You know, you have a story, an idea and what it looks like in your head, and you set out to do that. But all the elements of film making are the same. And when it comes to choosing projects I tend to go where the wind takes me. I have no strategy other than just doing things that I feel like. Maybe I should. But you’re going to be giving two years of your life to something, so for me it’s just, “Don’t say ‘no’ to good things.”

Jane Eyre is expanding this weekend into 25 theaters across the country.

Watch: Mia Wasikowska and director Cary Fukunaga discuss 'Jane Eyre'By Alex Dorn - The director and star had to conquer the speech of the time

Friday, Mar 18, 2011 6:27 PM

"Jane Eyre," a novel by Charlotte Brontë, was published in 1847, and a film version was first made 67 years later, in 1915. As an intellectual property, Jane Eyre has been in the public domain for many years and so there have been many screen interpretations of this story of a young orphan girl who comes to fall in love with a country gentleman while working as a tutor in his mansion.

The latest screen incarnation of Jane Eyre stars the striking Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Judi Dench and Jamie Bell, and is directed by Cary Fukunaga. I was lucky enough to sit down with Miss Wasikowska and director Fukunaga and talk about their gothic interpretation of the classic romance.

Cary Fukunaga has previously directed 'Sin Nombre,' a striking drama about a young central American gang member who tries to escape his gang by taking the long and dangerous trip to the US on the roof of a train. Using mostly non actors, Fukunaga was able to create a real, gritty and engrossing world, so I was curious as to how he would transition to period costume drama with very formal and stilted speech. He did wonderfully.

Watch parts of my interviews with both embedded above, and if you get a chance, do go see "Jane Eyre" in the theater, it's a successful rendition with some excellent performances.

Every governess has her own tale of woe, but Jane Eyre’s seems to be more intricate than most. In the new film based on the classic novel, actress Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) plays Jane, the governess of Thornfield Hall, an English mansion. The film also stars Michael Fassbender (Jonah Hex) who plays Edward Rochester, the authoritative head of Thornfield.

Readers might recall the story of Jane Eyre from Charlotte Bronte’s book of the same name. The film remains faithful to the text, without drowning audiences in excessively wordy scenes.

Director Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) has beautifully crafted a film that explores a deep love story and includes mystery and suspense amongst the characters and the plot. In an interview with the Pheonix, Wasikowska shed some light on the various mysteries in the movie:

“There is the mystery of the house and physical mystery,” Wasikowska said. “She knows something is going on in the house, but she can’t see it and there is no real solid proof of it. And then there is the emotional mystery going on between her and Rochester. She feels like something is going on there, but she can’t be sure that he loves her.”

The 19th century story is not told in chronological order, taking viewers back and forth in the plot from the past to the present and using flashbacks to play around with the narrative structure. Audiences are kept alert and interested by piecing each flashback into the story, which gradually unravels itself with each memory.

This romantic drama also incorporates creative cinematography that features a beautiful display of light and dark, while also highlighting the costumes and scenery. The shots are composed with incredible detail that is rarely lost in the film. From the characters’ complex braided hair and long corseted dresses to the sunset and willow trees in the background, viewers are absorbed into the world of Jane Eyre.

“What drew me to the script was the darker side of it,” said Fukunaga, the film’s director. “I was surprised by how many of the other adaptations weren’t dark. The thing that makes it interesting, as a sort of period film or even as a story in general, is that mix between the dark and the romance, which is a very tricky sort of formula to balance out.”

One of Jane Eyre’s most intriguing qualities is her troubling past. Raised by a “hard-hearted” aunt who didn’t care about her, Jane was frequently locked up in an eerie red room in the house.

But the film is still a coming of age story. She is portrayed as innocent, yet bold and ambitious at the same time. The film truly explores the emotions that Jane undergoes while living in this large gothic mansion.

Wasikowska does an excellent job playing Jane, with her piercing stone cold expressions that exemplify the confusion and shock Jane experiences when she is around Rochester. Innocence is prevalent, and although she appears to be obscure and plain, she is not completely void of emotion. We see Jane’s sensitive side when she finally sheds her first tear when talking to Rochester.

“I think that it is such a frightening thing for Jane and an exhilarating thing for her,” Wasikowska said. “The way [Michael Fassbender] played Rochester was so intense; and so, I don’t really know how to describe it, but one thing that I found when I was reading the book is that the biggest key to who Jane is, is Rochester.”

Fukunaga tried to avoid having a cliché ending.

“I decided to keep it more romantic,” he said. “I wanted their first coming back together to be not all about words but to be about touch. I didn’t want to do some big orchestral song and have the camera crane away from the tree with a big happy ending. It’s not Pride and Prejudice.”

Mia Wasikowska dons 19th century garb as the title character in Cary Fukunaga's version of "Jane Eyre."

"Jane Eyre" has withstood the test of time. In fact, she is probably one of Charlotte Bronte's most admired literary heroines of all time.

From the 1944 Robert Stevenson iteration starring Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine to many Masterpiece Theater-esque versions, it has probably had its fair share of remakes that, for the most part, are accepted -- and Oakland native Cary Fukunaga's version is another to add to that roster.

Another thing that has stayed timeless with the "When Jane met Rochester (played by the dreamy Michael Fassbender)" story is the period costumes -- specifically the corsets. We had the opportunity to talk to the star of the film, Mia Wasikowska and Fukunaga about the costumes and what the actors had to go through to achieve an accurate portrayal of the Jane Eyre world. They also had a lot of insight about being an "up and comer" in Hollywood.

When creating a period piece, how detailed and accurate do you hope to be with the scenery, language, costume, set design and everything else?

Fukunaga: As accurate as possible -- especially with the language. Accurate to the point where it is still comprehensible by modern audiences. In terms of all the details -- as real as possible. The costume designer, Michael O'Connor, sourced real materials like textiles and used original lace, collars, suspenders -- down to the details on the boots. Everything was highly detailed.

Mia, how was it like wearing the costumes?

Wasikowska: Painful. Awful. (laughs) Everyone says corsets are hell and I understand that. But until you're really in there, it's a whole other thing. They're really helpful for the character because you get a sense of repression and restriction. You can't really bend down and your arm could only go up so high because there's a little flap over it. That was really helpful for understanding how it was like being a woman in that time.

Fukunaga: (Mia) was certain that I asked O'Connor to make it tighter (laughs) -- corsets basically take your guts and squeezes them in half -- some of the guts go up, some of them go down. It's really unhealthy.

Wasikowska: And it restricts your breathing! You can only take half breaths and it's really weird.

Fukunaga: Fassbender had to wear pants up to here (points to his chest).

Wasikowska:He complained all the time!

Fukunaga: His shirts were long and his pants were high!

Mia, you have been seen as an "up and coming" actress. When do you think an actress or actor stops being an "up and comer?"

Wasikowska: I don't really know...

Fukunaga: I think it's when your publicist stops trying.

Wasikowska: Yeah! It's when everybody gives up trying.

Fukunaga: I think you are "up and coming" until you oversaturate.

Wasikowska: Until you've done a magazine cover twice -- the SAME magazine cover -- then you have probably stopped being an "up and comer."

PHILADELPHIA — “You can only breathe so much in corsets,” said Mia Wasikowska, who was required to wear such an apparatus along with various bell-shaped skirts, flounced petticoats and tight little bonnets as she assayed the title role in the new and beautifully miserable “Jane Eyre.”‘JANE EYRE’

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender and Jamie Bell

Director: Cary Fukunaga

Rating: PG-13 for brief nudity and violent content.

“It restricts your voice and your breath, and it’s really symbolic of the repression of the day,” she observed. “That’s very much what that time represented for women — physical repression that becomes mental. Oh, it’s crazy.”

In this new iteration of the oft-filmed “Jane Eyre,” director Cary Fukunaga (“Sin Nombre”) and his costume designer drew their wardrobe inspiration from the fashions of the early 1840s. There’s one emotionally devastating scene in which Wasikowska’s Jane frantically tries to get out of her corset, with a close-up of her fingers on the laces as she desperately unknots row after row. She’s like a scuba diver in trouble, madly trying to untangle in the deep, struggling to shed the malfunctioning oxygen tank and making for the surface.

“It’s the same thing with me when I get home at the end of the day,” Wasikowska said, laughing. “The first thing I do is I take everything off and jump into my pajamas. Freedom.”

For Wasikowska — pronounced vash-i-kov-ska — playing Charlotte Brontë’s star-crossed heroine was a dream come true. When the Australian actress, all of 21, had finished Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” in 2009, she went back to her parents’ home in Canberra and waited for news of potential projects.

“It was the first time I had been home and didn’t have any schoolwork to do,” she recalled, on the phone from New York recently. “So I was like, ‘Whoa, what am I going to do?’ So I made a list of ‘the classics’ — books that I thought I should get to — and ‘Jane Eyre’ was there on the bookshelf, so I started reading. I was at Chapter 5, and I called my agent up and asked if there was a script around, and there wasn’t at the time. The book was incredible, and so dense, just Jane’s internal monologue from start to finish. ... But two months later, she called me and she said, ‘Here’s the script, and the director would like to meet with you.’ ”

The rest is history. Or, more accurately, Victorian Gothic feminist fiction.

Shot on the moors and dales of Derbyshire, where the skies are forever sheathed in clouds, and in historic country houses that Fukunaga and his crew lit solely by candlelight, “Jane Eyre” stars Michael Fassbender as the mercurial and brooding Rochester. The actor, who played Irish Republican Bobby Sands in the riveting “Hunger,” is only slightly less daunting and charismatic than Orson Welles was in the 1943 adaptation. Joan Fontaine, then 26, was the estranged, woebegone Jane in Robert Stevenson’s version.

“I definitely wanted to cast young, and I wanted to cast someone who wasn’t your standard Hollywood face,” said Fukunaga in a separate interview. I wanted someone who had an intelligent and emotionally subtle approach to acting. And I was introduced to Mia through friends who told me to see what she did in ‘In Treatment.’ And I was just floored by how much of a raw and natural talent she has.”

In the first season of HBO’s “In Treatment,” Wasikowska was Sophie, a teen gymnast with suicidal impulses who sought counsel from therapist Gabriel Byrne. It was a part, and performance, that put the then-unknown on the map.

“I feel really lucky to have played a character like Sophie,” Wasikowska said. “It’s really rare to find a character that conveys so truthfully what it’s like to be an adolescent in this time and to be dealing with so many issues. And as a young actress — I was 16, I think, or 17, then — to get the chance to explore a character in that much depth. ... I just feel really lucky to have played her.”

Lucky, too, is how Wasikowska feels about being able to bring Brontë’s Jane to life. “Her thoughts and her ideas are so much part of her essence, and she has a really strong sense of self — of who she is and what she believes,” she said.

Along with her starring role as the girl who goes down the rabbit hole in “Alice,” Wasikowska appeared last year opposite Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo in Lisa Cholodenko’s Oscar-nominated “The Kids Are All Right,” playing the daughter of a lesbian couple. She and her brother (Josh Hutcherson) go out and find the anonymous sperm donor, their father. Conflict and confusion ensue.

“ ‘The Kids Are All Right’ was just such an important experience for me,” she said. “Especially being able to collaborate with Annette and Julie and seeing the two of them together. They’re legends, and they’re perfect in their roles, and to see how they work is such a great example.”

Copyright 2011 Columbia Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.This article was published in Go! Magazine on page 7 of the Thursday, March 24, 2011

Jane Eyre "is not the role to be vain with," says WasikowskaPhotograph by Ryan Pfluger for TIME

Mia Wasikowska slips through the lobby of New York City's Waldorf-Astoria hotel, hat pulled low, scarf wrapped high, face scrubbed clean, a marvel of unadornment. If you hadn't spent the previous evening at a screening of her new film, Jane Eyre, absorbed in her performance as the original plain Jane, you'd hardly notice her. This is entirely in sync with the 21-year-old's career goals. She has no desire to be in Us Weekly, is content with not getting what she calls "the pretty girlfriend roles" and confesses that she feels more insecure in mascara than out of it. She'll take the meaty parts but minimal recognition, please — the kind that allows her to still ride the bus.

The day after Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland opened last March, the Australian native was walking in Venice, Calif., when passing strangers identified her as the girl who played Alice. The Alice. "I was weirded out," she says. That night she fled (her word) for England to start filming Jane Eyre. "I haven't been recognized since," she says with a note of triumph. (See Richard Corliss's review of Jane Eyre.)

It was the second escape Jane had provided her. Shortly after Burton's film wrapped in 2008, she retreated to her family home in Canberra. For the first time since her career took off with In Treatment, in which she played the unforgettable suicidal gymnast Sophie, she didn't have school to go back to. She hadn't yet shot her part as Joni in The Kids Are All Right. "I was at a total loss," she remembers. But reading Lewis Carroll's Alice had put her in the mood for other classics. She assigned herself a stack that included To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, and Charlotte Brontë's gothic romance. Five chapters in, she e-mailed her agent. Was anyone making a movie version?

Somebody was: Cary Fukunaga, the director of Sin Nombre. And though there have been nearly 20 films of Brontë's novel, Wasikowska chose to watch exactly none of them. She knew second-guessing by audiences devoted to the book or to a previous adaptation was inevitable. "You can only hope that people connect with it in some way," she says. (See TIME's top 100 novels.)

What they'll find in Fukunaga's film is a realism both disconcerting and exciting. This is not just because Wasikowska's entire makeup routine consisted of applying moisturizer and having her eyebrows brushed. ("It is not the role to be vain with," she says. "I hope that people can still see the beauty in her.") What feels so radical is the contrast between her Jane and Michael Fassbender's sensual, very adult Rochester. When Wasikowska learned Fassbender (of Inglourious Basterds and the upcoming X-Men: First Class) had been cast, she thought, But he's a man. I've only acted with boys. Seeing them together deepens the understanding of the power dynamic at work in this romance, of what it took for Jane to resist him. Her strength is her self-respect, which Wasikowska relished. "You put her in modern-day society and she'd thrive," she says.

Wasikowska is doing just that. She'll be seen next in Gus Van Sant's Restless and Albert Nobbs, a gender bender in which she plays the romantic interest of Glenn Close. Then she might be off to college to study photography. While filming Jane Eyre, she picked up one of her mother's old cameras (her parents are fine-art photographers) and started chronicling life on set. With a little prodding, she shows some of the results: Jamie Bell, who plays Jane's suitor St. John, in period dress, leaping in midair; Fukunaga backdropped by a 12th century manor and 21st century equipment; Fassbender set upon by makeup artists.

Droll and surreal, they feel like a portal to a secret world, the strange land Wasikowska has chosen as her home. In an image from the set of Restless, Van Sant peers down from behind the threatening hulk of the camera. All we see of Wasikowska is a dim reflection in the lens. It's an astute portrayal of the alienation of being in the camera's eye. "If there is one piece of advice I'd give to young actors, it is to have another thing that you can do that you can control and that is your own creative outlet," Wasikowska says. "Acting is creative, but there is so much of it that isn't up to you."

Mia Wasikowska talks about her meteoric rise, how her pay cheque doesn't matter and Johnny Depp

* Reuters * Published: 00:00 March 21, 2011

Even with having a remarkable name and being the face of last year's Alice In Wonderland, actress Mia Wasikowska may not be familiar to many movie fans.

But the 21-year-old's star has risen rapidly in Hollywood, and she has caught the eye of directors and critics since her career-turning performance in the HBO series, In Treatment, only a few years ago.

That led her to smaller film roles in 2010's award-winning movies, Alice and The Kids Are All Right. In fact, Wasikowska earned a surprising tie for second with Alice co-star Johnny Depp in a Forbes ranking of actors who produced the highest-grossing movie receipts in 2010.

You are noted for accents, from various American styles to now, northern England in Jane Eyre? Did you practice as a child growing up in Canberra?

I even remember playing dolls in an American accent 'cause for us that was make believe... I think it would be almost scarier for me to do my own accent.

Not so long ago you were in a small soap opera, now, in Jane Eyre, you are acting alongside the likes of Judi Dench?

It helps not to think of it as too bizarre. It could be easy to get overwhelmed by it. It also helps that I have worked with great people, but they are also really grounded.

Do you remember being daunted at any stage?

I am not going to pretend that I have never been daunted by anyone, because for sure when Johnny Depp walks into a room he is like the face of, I don't know, but I also felt really comfortable talking to him as the Mad Hatter...at the beginning, for sure, but I have never worked with anyone where it stayed.

Did you always feel such inner confidence?

I have my moments of doubt when I feel insecure, I am sure. I wasn't raised to be idolising people in a way that I think some people have a sense of, when they are brought up. At the end of the day everyone is human, everyone is a person.

But I was always had a drive to do stuff and always felt like I wasn't doing enough. You know, I felt over the hill at 14 and that drove me, I was very quietly dramatic.

Jane Eyre also has an inner confidence and determination. Why does this character keep resonating?

It's a really important character for women particularly, because she has an innate sense of self respect, which a lot of people don't have. And she has no one to have got that from, it's not like she had a loving upbringing or something, but she is born with something inside of her that says "I am worth having a good life. I am worth being respected, I am worth having a good relationship. And I am worth being treated well." And all those things speak to people, no matter what time it is.

You chose this, a relatively small film, after Alice. Would you do a blockbuster, say an Iron Man?

I don't think so. It really depends what it is. But Alice was exposure on such a level that I have never experienced before...I want to keep doing roles that are interesting, and I think the blockbuster things don't provide that at the moment, or it's more rare to find.

Do you feel the weight of your talent?

I don't know how people perceive me. I want to keep doing things that are very different.

Very modest of you. How do you handle the red carpets?

I feel a little bit less secure in those situations. I would prefer to be on the set a thousand times.

Do you care how much you get paid?

I would rather do things that have creative integrity and that I think are fulfilling.

What is your life really like now? Ever get lonely?

Yeah for sure. We meet so many people and at the same time it is very solitary, which is fine right now. It can only last so long where you are fine with that. There is such a contrast between the times. You are on set with 150 people and everybody is in your face fixing things and discussing and then you go home and it's the complete opposite.